Hell Hath No Fury
by the1andonlyofo
Summary: Victoria Isle is fed up with the way her fellow high school students treat her best friend, an openly gay young man named Adrian. After numerous incidents involving Adrian being unfairly punished she's at her wit's end, until a mysterious package arrives.
1. Chapter 1: The Arrival

Disclaimer: I do not own Hellraiser or any of its characters or objects. They are the property of Clive Barker.

Author's Note: This is my first fanfic, but I've been meaning to write one for a while. I came up with this idea a few years ago and this story has been written and rewritten numerous times, with slight plot changes. I present it to you now, in what I believe to be its prime. I'm a firm supporter of constructive criticism, but let's not be assholes about it, folks.

Hell Hath No Fury

Chapter 1: The Arrival

Victoria Isle furiously crumbled up the piece of paper and tossed it across the room with a vicious screech. Her task complete, she slouched on her stool and crossed her arms, scowling at the stained tabletop before her. The rest of the class, who had stopped in unison to watch the brief spectacle, had returned to their work. They all knew what had infuriated her so; some snickered about it under their breath. The bell rang, signaling the end of another day within the confines of the high school. Victoria remained where she was as her classmates dashed for the nearest exit in a frenzied stampede. Dimitri Tatarescu, the art teacher, sat down in the stool in front of the distraught girl.

"You know what happened, I assume?" Victoria asked, slowly looking up at the man before her.

"Indeed," he said in his thick Romanian accent. "It is most unfair, but all occurrences involving our dear Adrian tend to be."

The Adrian he spoke of was Victoria's closest friend, a flamboyantly gay young man with an overall amiable disposition, but with a rather short temper due to the inability of those around him to accept his sexual orientation. The occurrence in question took place in the locker room after P.E. and involved a group of football players, numerous violently homophobic slurs, and a well-aimed punch to the face that resulted in Adrian being dragged into the principal's office and being suspended for ten days, along with possible legal repercussions for breaking the quarterback's nose. The group of boys who started the scuffle wasn't even given as much as a verbal warning.

Dimitri was a Romanian immigrant from Bucharest. He was a young dark-haired man fresh out of school. It was his first year at this school. He'd immediately taken a liking to Victoria and Adrian and they to him. He tried to use his authority to protect them, well mostly Adrian, from the unfair treatment they received in the school, but his lack of seniority worked against him. He was still an outsider amongst the faculty.

"How can they get away with all the shit they do to him?" Victoria asked. "It's fuckin' ridiculous!"

Dimitri moved around the table and put an arm around the distraught girl.

"In time everything will work out," he consoled. "Something will happen that changes everything."

"You always know the right thing to say, Dimitri," Victoria said, smiling.

~[ ]~

Victoria walked through the front door and headed toward the stairs. She just wanted to lock herself in her room and be left to her thoughts.

"Tori, honey, is that you?" her mother yelled from the kitchen.

Victoria sighed, "Yeah, Mom. It's me."

"There was a package for you in the mail today."

Her mother came out of the kitchen and handed her a small, square parcel.

"What the fuck is this?" Victoria muttered.

"Watch your language, missy!" her mother scolded.

"Sorry, Mom," she murmured as she headed up the stairs.

She tossed her school bag on the floor of her room and shut the door behind her. She flopped down on her bed, the mysterious package in hand. The outer wrappings were void of any kind of marking that could've indicated where the package came from. They only bore her name. She tore off the paper, only to discover that the plain cardboard box inside was just as barren as the paper that concealed it. She slit the tape that held the box closed and peered inside. She removed the contents, confused. It was an intricately decorated puzzle box, made of some kind of wood and covered with what appeared to be gold plates.

_Why would someone send me something like this? This thing has to be worth a fortune. _Victoria thought.

She stared at the box, turning it over and over in her hands. For some reason the box was making her uneasy. It seemed to resonate with an eerie, unnatural aura. She continued to gaze at the gold-plated surface, mesmerized by the patterns on its six faces. What was it? Who had sent it to her? A sudden knock at the door made her jump.

"Tori, dinner's ready," her mother said from the other side of the door.

"Okay, I'm coming."

Victoria stared looked back at the box. She shook her head at her own foolishness. It was just a puzzle box. Nothing out-of-the-ordinary about it. She put it down on her bedside table and went down to dinner.


	2. Chapter 2: The Box

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm very pleased with the feedback I've been getting so far, even if it hasn't been a lot. It's nice to know my work is appreciated Here's the next chapter! Consider it a post-Halloween gift from me. I have no clue how long this whole thing will turn out to be, but I'm already thinking about a sequel! But one step at a time…

Chapter 2: The Box

The damn thing was seriously freaking her out! Victoria felt foolish, but she couldn't help feeling apprehensive about the bizarre object. Ever since its arrival, her sleep had been plagued by a series of nightmares. Everything was surrounded by mist and tinted in an eerie bluish light. She could hear tormented screams far off in the distance. There were chains swinging idly from the ceiling all around her, some sporting pieces of bloody meat from their hooked ends. Something was approaching her through the mist, laughing the most murderous laugh she'd ever heard. She wanted to talk to Dimitri about everything, but wanted to wait for Adrian to return to school. She figured it would be best to approach them both at once. She really didn't want to repeat herself, especially when it came to those dreams. She tossed the box into a shoebox and shoved it into the back of her closet, hoping to forget about it for a while.

~[ ]~

"Did you miss me, bitches?" Adrian proudly proclaimed as he sauntered into first period English on the day of his return.

"I sure as Hell did," Victoria said, pulling her friend into a tight embrace.

"Hey, are you ok?" Adrian asked. "You seem preoccupied."

"I'll explain it to you after school," she replied. "I wanna tell you and Dimitri at the same time."

"Holy shit, you're not pregnant are you?" he demanded in a harsh whisper.

"What the fuck? NO!" she cried, totally taken aback. "Why would you think that? And who exactly would I be pregnant to, if you don't mind my asking?"

Adrian raised an eyebrow. A devilish smile played across his lips. "Well, it is important news for Dimitri…"

Victoria punched him in the arm, her face turning beet red.

"What?" Adrian cried. "I know there's some kinda weird bond thing between the two of you. Besides, we graduate in two months and he's not that much older than us…"

"Fuck you, dude!" Victoria said, beginning to laugh.

"Love ya, Tor," Adrian laughed, blowing her a kiss.

"I hate you sometimes, ya know that?" she said.

"No you don't," Adrian replied, matter-of-factly.

There was a moment of silence between the pair, and then they burst into uncontrollable laughter. It was good to have Adrian back.

~[ ]~

"So what is it you wish to show us?" Dimitri asked as the three of them sat in the empty art room.

Victoria stared at the shoebox on the table in front of her. "I got a mysterious package in the mail the day Adrian was suspended. There was no return address or anything on it, just my name. When I opened it, I found this."

She removed the box from its temporary housing and placed it on the table.

"I have no clue what it is, but it gives me the creeps. I've been having the worst nightmares ever since it showed up."

The two men listened intently to her as she described these dreams. Dimitri picked up the box, turning it over and over in his hands as she spoke. Suddenly, he froze.

"What happened?" Adrian asked.

"I've heard stories about this box," he said, holding up the artifact in question. "I believe this is Lemarchand's Box, the Lament Configuration."

"What the hell is that?" Victoria questioned. The look on Dimitri's face made her uneasy.

"Phillip Lemarchand was a French toymaker. An aristocrat known as Duc de L'Isle commissioned him to create a puzzle box. Lemarchand did so, unaware of de L'Isle's true intentions."

"Which were?" Adrian prompted.

"Hell is what de L'Isle sought, and supposedly he found it." He motioned to the box. "A place is said to exist between pleasure and pain. This box, according to legend, is a doorway to that place and those who open it summon those who inhabit it; The Order of the Gash, a race of grotesquely disfigured, vaguely human creatures. Angels to some, demons to others."

"How do you know this shit?" Adrian asked, staring at the older man with skepticism.

"Do you remember the incident with the architect John Merchant?" Dimitri asked.

Victoria and Adrian just stared at him.

"Of course you don't. You were young children at the time. He built a building in the late 90s that was getting all of this recognition, but then he was found decapitated in the lobby. His wife was found clutching a strange box and babbling about demons. She was committed and their son was lost in the foster care system."

"How does that answer my question?" Adrian asked.

"I'm getting there," Dimitri said. "Patience. These things shouldn't be rushed. Merchant was a descendant of Lemarchand. Somehow the box found its way back to the bloodline that had created it, and wreaked havoc upon it. When I stumbled across an article about Merchant's death, it struck me as odd and I did some research. I stumbled across legends of the box in books on the occult and on websites. You can honestly find anything if you Google it."

Victoria and Adrian sat in silence for a moment; taking in the information they'd just been given.

"So you open the box and these things come out of it. These demons or whatever they are," Victoria said.

"That's what they say, yes,"Dimitri replied.

"And they take you to their world and do what exactly?"

Dimitri shrugged. "I don't know if anyone knows that for sure. No one returns from their world to tell their story, or at least no one returns who isn't promptly retrieved."

"Someone escaped?" Victoria exclaimed. "So this place really exists?"

"I found a brief mention of a woman named Kirsty Cotton, who claimed her uncle escaped and she bargained to send him back, but there's no evidence supporting it."

"Oh," Victoria said. She stared at the box, lost in thought. She picked it up and started inspecting it, poking and prodding at it.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Adrian yelled. "Did you miss the whole story? The box opens a door to Hell, or someplace like it."

"But Dimitiri also said there's no concrete evidence supporting it. It's probably all superstitious bullshit."

Victoria continued to toy with the box. A section of the box popped up and separated into two pieces before rejoining and sliding back into place. Victoria tilted her head in puzzlement. Adrian and Dimitri held their breath, watching in stunned silence. She flipped it to another side. Her fingers traced the perimeter of a circular design at the center of the face. They seemed to move with a mind of their own and for a moment, Victoria became frightened by her own actions. Was she imagining it or was a large bell tolling ominously somewhere? The three of them jumped as the box flew from Victoria's hands, clattering to the table. Another section rose up from the box, rotated, and then fell into a new position. It remained there for a moment then returned to its original position. The bell Victoria thought she heard ceased its ringing.

"See?" Victoria proudly declared. "No demons."

"But what the fuck is that?" Adrian cried in terror.

There was a small wooden mannequin, used for drawing human figures, on a nearby shelf. The three of them were familiar with the item, it had been there all year, but it had miraculously gained a new feature. What appeared to be a thin nail, at least six inches in length had been driven through its head.

"That wasn't there earlier," Dimitri said. "And there's nothing like it anywhere in this studio."

Victoria pulled the nail out of the mannequin. She held it up to inspect it. She had a sudden feeling of déjà vu. In the back of her mind she heard chains rattling as they swayed to a hyperphysical rhythm. She pushed the thought away.

"What do you think it could be?" Adrian asked.

"Who knows?" Dimitri replied. "A warning, perhaps. Or an invitation."

"An invitation…" Victoria muttered.

_We have such sights to show you…_

__"What did you say?" Adrian asked her.

"Nothing. Just thinking out loud, I guess."

"Maybe it's time you two headed home," Dimitri stated.

Victoria nodded.

~[ ]~

Later that evening, Adrian and Victoria sat on her front porch.

"So what do you make of all this?" Adrian asked, indicating the box. Victoria hadn't been able to put it down since their meeting with Dimitri.

"I don't know," she replied. "I suppose this box came to me for a reason and I intend to figure it out, no matter what it takes."

"Just be careful," Adrian warned. "This thing seems dangerous and I'd be crushed if something bad happened to you."

Adrian got to his feet.

"I'm gonna head home before my mom starts to worry," he said. "I love you, Tor. I mean that."

"I love you, too," she replied. The pair hugged. She stood on the porch and waved as Adrian pulled out of the driveway and drove off. She looked down at the box, still holding so many mysteries. She turned and went into the house.


	3. Chapter 3: Revelations

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm absolutely thrilled that people are taking to this story as well as they are! I was a little worried at first, but no longer! Please continue to read and review! Tell your friends! Onward we go…

Chapter 3: Revelations

Victoria sat on her bed, staring at the Lament Configuration in her lap. For the past few days she'd continued to experiment with the box. She continually tried opening it, but nothing like the appearance of the nail occurred. She'd searched the internet for information on the box, but found nothing more than what Dimitri had already told her. There was no affirmation to the supernatural rumors that surrounded the box. She was beginning to think that it was all just superstition.

_But then where'd that nail come from? And the nightmares? How can you explain them?_

"I'm not crazy," Victoria said. She wasn't sure if she was speaking to herself, for reassurance, or to the puzzle in her lap, mocking her with its silence. Something had to have left that nail impaled through the mannequin's head. Both Adrian and Dimitri had been as shocked at its appearance as she had been, so she knew neither of them had planted it. It couldn't be a mere coincidence that the nightmares had begun the day the box had arrived. The box had made her uneasy from the moment she'd unveiled it, even before she'd known what it was. Something was toying with her, perhaps biding its time. But for what?

Once again she opened the box, as she'd done numerous times before. Unlike all the other times, the box didn't reassemble itself, that one section gliding up and rotating back into alignment. She heard that ominous bell tolling from an unseen location. Was it louder than before? She thought she caught a whiff of vanilla, with an underlying aroma of decay, but it was gone before she could confirm its verisimilitude. She spun around suddenly. Had she felt breath at the nape of her neck? The glare of some unseen observer boring into the back of her head? There was nothing there. The room was devoid of life, with the exception of her. Now she was becoming frightened, not of some unseen entity, but of the fragility of her own mind. She worried she was becoming consumed by her own paranoia. She left the room and entered the bathroom, hoping a hot shower would clear her perturbed mind. No such luck. She kept expecting the something to rip back the shower curtain and drag her into oblivion. She went back to her room and put on pajamas. She sat down at her computer and attempted to do some homework, but found herself unable to concentrate. She considered calling Adrian, but decided against it, knowing her friend would demand she get rid of the box to preserve her sanity. She couldn't do that. She was too close to a breakthrough, she knew it. She flopped down on her bed, staring at the box on her bedside table. She reached up and turned off the bedside lamp, plunging the room into darkness. She could still make out the Lament Configuration, partially illuminated by the blue glow of the digital numerals on her alarm clock. She drifted off to sleep, still looking toward the box.

She awoke with a start. It was still dark outside; the only light coming through the window cast by the streetlight outside. She turned to look at her alarm clock. 3:06 AM. She started to doze back off, but opened her eyes immediately, staring back at the table. The box was gone! She suddenly sensed she wasn't alone. She quickly scanned her room, expecting to discover nothing, that her paranoia was once again getting the best of her. Her heart stopped when she discovered that she was sadly mistaken

The face appeared to be floating in the far left corner of the room. From this distance and in the dark, she was unable to clearly make out many distinguishing features. It appeared to be male and possessed an unnatural pallor that seemed to give off its own eerie glow. She rubbed her eyes, expecting the visage to disappear, nothing more than the hallucinations of a frenzied mind, but it was still there. It laughed softly. She immediately recognized it as the laugh from her nightmares.

"Oh no. You're not dreaming," it said, its voice distinctly male. "You received my message, I presume?"

_What the hell is he talking about? _Victoria thought.

He began to move, stepping into the light coming through the partially opened blinds. Victoria recoiled against her headboard, his meaning suddenly clear. The creature, for he couldn't rightfully be called a man, was completely bald and had a grid cut into the bare flesh of his head. At every intersection, a nail had been driven into his skull, the same nails as that which had been driven through the head of the art mannequin. He wore long high-collared robes of what appeared to be black leather. Down his chest were two rows of ornamental wounds; the flesh was peeled back, exposing the muscle beneath. Beneath this scarification was another cut out area in his robe, exposing a large portion of his stomach, including a pierced navel. In his bloodstained fingers he clutched the Lament Configuration.

An involuntary whimper escaped Victoria's lips. She was suddenly overcome by the urge to void her bladder, but managed to keep herself under control.

"Please…I…I didn't mean it. I was just curious. P…Please don't hurt me," she pleaded with her visitor.

The demon chuckled. "If I was going to take you, I would have done it by now."

"What?" Victoria said, suddenly confused. "What do you mean?"

"We've been searching for you, de L'Isle."

Confusion and curiosity had now taken over fear.

"That French guy who commissioned the box? Ummm, I think you've got the wrong person…and century," Victoria said, hoping her unexpected boldness wouldn't get her killed.

"No, no, I know what I'm doing," he replied. "I've found the person I was looking for."

Victoria stared at him, still confused.

"What do you want?"

"You," he answered. "Allow me to explain. In 1784, Duc de L'Isle had Phillip Lemerchand create the Lament Configuration. De L'Isle and his apprentice, Jacques, used the box to summon a demon, whom de L'Isle would have complete control over, unless he stood in Hell's way. Jacques and the demon, Angelique, betrayed de L'Isle and killed him. Jacques eventually stood in Hell's way and was killed by Angelique."

"What does that have to do with me?" Victoria asked.

"The Lament Configuration rightfully belongs to de L'Isle, even though Jacques killed him and Lemerchand stole back his creation. De L'Isle commissioned its creation; it exists because of him. Lemerchand may have created its physical form, but de L'Isle made it into a doorway. Jacques may have robbed him of his familiar, but it was de L'Isle who had summoned her. Obviously de L'Isle is long dead, but his bloodline survives. Remove the first three letters from de L'Isle and what do you have left?"

"Isle," Victoria gasped.

"Yes," he replied. "You are a direct descendant of de L'Isle, meaning that this is rightfully yours."

He held out the Lament Configuration. Victoria hesitantly reached forward and took the box, gasping as her fingers briefly brushed against his. They were ice cold.

"So what does this mean?" she asked.

She looked up at him, making direct eye contact for the first time. His eyes were abysses in that mutilated face, dark and of interminable depth. Their blackness betrayed not even a shimmer of emotion.

"You open the box, we answer," he said. "You now possess the control Jacques stole from de L'Isle. We're at your service."

"So there are more of you?"

"Yes. Would you like to see them?"

"NO!" Victoria blurted out. "I think I've had enough for one night."

"Very well," he replied. "I shall take me leave now, if you don't oppose."

"No, you can go," she said, but then suddenly remembered something. "Wait!"

"Yes?"

"Do you have a name?"

"I have been called many things, some from previous lives and no longer used. For obvious reasons, many simply call me Pinhead."

"Pinhead. Okay, that makes sense."

"Anything else?" he asked.

"No, that's it."

"Very well."

He disappeared in a flash of blue light. In her hand, the Lament Configuration reassembled itself. Victoria stared at it for a moment, and then looked past the foot of her bed to the place Pinhead had stood moments before. Her mind still couldn't wrap itself around his visit. She looked back at the box. She now held an inconceivable power, one that could drastically change her life, for better or for worse; she wasn't sure.

"I guess Dimitri was right," she said to herself. "Something happened that will change everything."

She put the box back onto her bedside table, rolled over, and dropped back off to sleep with a smile on her face. It seemed that things were beginning to look up.


	4. Chapter 4: Intervention

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm chugging along rather smoothly with this story, if I do say so myself. I try to update ASAP cuz I know I'm impatient and hate to be kept waiting so I Figure the rest of you don't like it either. I'm thinking there won't be too many more chapters following this one (maybe like 2 or 3, who knows though), but I'm definitely thinking sequel! Please continue to read and review!

Chapter 4: Intervention

Several weeks had passed since Pinhead had made his presence known to Victoria. She found the Cenobite, as Pinhead had explained his race was called, fascinating and spent any available time talking to him, asking him questions about his world. The demonic humanoid was always patient with the girl, even as she asked him question after endless question, demanding more of him every time. On a few occasions, she'd walked with him through the labyrinth, marveling at its seemingly endless and ever-changing design. She was particularly fascinated by the Leviathan, revolving ad infinitum above the labyrinth, shrouded not in light, but the absence of such. She encountered several of the other Cenobites; Chatterer, Butterball, and Angelique, the very creature de L'Isle had summoned hundreds of years previously. She marveled at their ability to survive despite the presence of their countless mutilations.

"How were you created?" Victoria asked as they stood in the shadow of the floating behemoth. "The Cenobites, I mean. You can't have been born this way."

"No, we were not," Pinhead explained. "We were human once, most of us. One way or another we stumbled across the box and were not as lucky as you. We were tortured in the depths of the labyrinth and for whatever reason Leviathan made us what we are. Not all who enter the labyrinth become one of us."

He looked up at the labyrinth's odd deity. He became very quiet, staring up at it intently, his head cocked slightly to one side as though comprehending some silent dialogue.

"Ah, Pinhead?" Victoria asked hesitantly, not wanting to disturb his meditation.

"Yes?" he replied abruptly, as though he'd been caught sleeping at an inopportune moment.

"You okay over there? You kinda spaced out for a second."

"Yes, I am fine. My apologies."

"It's cool. What was that anyway?"

"Nothing. No need to worry."

Victoria raised a skeptical eyebrow. Pinhead waved a hand, signaling the end of the discussion on that topic.

"Come," he said, the corners of his mouth twitching upward in a barely noticeable smile. "I have such sights to show you." He started to walk off.

Victoria, suddenly struck with déjà vu, watched him glide away. She looked up at the Leviathan, wondering what secrets it had been sharing with her inhuman mentor. She turned back toward Pinhead, who was standing a distance away patiently waiting for her to follow.

"Coming!" she called, and ran off to follow the demon into the bowels of the labyrinth, where the distant screaming was becoming louder.

~[ ]~

"Hello? Paging Victoria Isle! Come in, Ms. Isle!" Adrian said, cupping his hands around his mouth.

"What? Huh?" Victoria started. "Sorry, Ade."

"What is it with you and that thing? You take it everywhere."

Victoria looked at the Lament Configuration she had been staring at with such intensity. Adrian was right; she never went anywhere without the box in the month and a half since Pinhead had appeared. She hadn't told Adrian or Dimitri about him. Their unorthodox companionship was her dirty little secret. She sighed. Though it frightened her slightly to admit it, she actually _missed _the demon during their time apart.

"Well…" she started.

"Hold that thought!" Adrian exclaimed. "Gotta pee."

He got up from where they were seated in the courtyard and headed into the building. Graduation was two weeks away and the seniors were making the most out of their final week of classes. A palpable energy of excitement crackled throughout the school like lightning. Pranks were being hatched and final memories being made. Parties were planned, outfits for the ceremony were discussed, and tears were shed. Victoria returned her gaze to her treasured possession. She could care less about it all. These stepping stones of the transition to adulthood that had once seemed so enthralling had now become superficial. She'd seen true grandeur, witnessed splendors nearly inconceivable to the human psyche. This coming-of-age ritual had become nothing more than an inane necessity.

She was torn from her thoughts by a sudden upheaval. She looked up to see Adrian overtaken by a large group of boys, led by the very one whose nose he'd broken the day the box had arrived. Adrian was desperately fighting to remain on his feet, but he was unfairly outnumbered and brought to the ground, obscured from view by the pandemonium swirling around him. An agonized cry from her friend sent Victoria rushing toward the expanding bedlam. She was stopped dead in her tracks by a group of girls, mostly girlfriends of the boys attacking Adrian.

"Where do you think you're going, bitch?" one of them snarled.

"FUCK YOU!" Victoria spat.

She could've taken any of them in a fair fight, but like Adrian, she was outnumbered. She was shoved backwards into a niche created by the wall of the building and two large concrete planters. She struck her head hard enough to muddle her thoughts, but not hard enough to render her unconscious. She looked up at her tormentors, shaking her head in a desperate attempt to clear her head. A series of loud cracks and another cry from Adrian brought her out of her daze. They were going to kill him, maybe not intentionally, but they seemed to show no sign of letting up and the massive cluster-fuck of onlookers made it impossible for intervention to arrive. Victoria suddenly remembered the box. It had fallen from her grasp when she hit the wall and lay a few feet away. She scooped it up, solving practically blind, her vision clouded by the tears that had begun to pour down her face. In a matter of seconds the carnage-fueled cries of encouragement and blood lust became screams of terror.

"Move now or I shall show you no mercy!" a comfortingly familiar voice bellowed.

The girls who had attacked Victoria scampered away without further repercussions. Pinhead extended a pale hand to Victoria, yanking her to her feet. She lost what little composure she had and began to sob loudly. The demon held the trembling girl against his side, keeping her clear of the wounds on his torso. She clung to his robes like a frightened child. The mob had backed away from their victim; many were now huddled back against the walls, watching to see what would happen next. The air reeked with the scent of blood and fresh urine. In a different situation, Victoria would've found the fact that the school's biggest assholes had pissed themselves like small children humorous, but this was no laughing matter. Pinhead had not acted alone. The Chatter Beast was hovering around the edge of remnants of the crowd, daring them to move or speak. Chatterer, Butterball, and the nameless female cenobite stood around a bloody mass upon the ground. Victoria realized with dawning horror that the mass was Adrian. She tore free of Pinhead and ran to the aid of her injured friend, hoping that Pinhead and his cohorts hadn't arrived too late.

"Ade?" she sobbed. "Oh, God, please answer me!"

He blinked at her with one eye; the other was bruised and swollen shut.

"The…box. Everything was true," he gasped weakly. He winced, raggedly drawing in breath. It was clear that several ribs were broken.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you about them," Victoria said. "It was stupid of me."

"They saved my…life," he whispered. Speaking caused him obvious pain.

"Don't talk, Ade. I can see that it hurts you," she replied. "You tell me whatever you need to when your better."

"Get the hell out of my way!" Dimiti's unmistakable voice called from a distant point. He was clearly trying to get through the mass of people.

"We should go," the female cenobite said to Pinhead.

"Yes," he agreed. He snapped his fingers. The Chatter Beast turned away from the terrified teenagers and heeled to his master's side. "We take our leave now, Victoria. Your friend is safe." And with that, the demons disappeared. The box returned to its original state and Victoria slipped it into her bag. Dimitri made it through the crowd flustered and agitated, strands of dark hair hanging loose from the low ponytail that usually kept them at bay. He cried out in shock at the sight before him and joined Victoria at Adrian's side.

"I'm glad I called the paramedics after all," he said. With Pinhead gone, he took over for comforting the distraught girl, who sobbed uncontrollably into his shoulder.

The EMTs arrived, carting Adrian off to the hospital. His parents were no doubt on their way, infuriated and frantic, their lawyer in tow. On the ride to the hospital, Victoria sat huddled in the passenger seat, staring blankly out the window.

"Are you alright?" Dimitri asked from the driver's seat.

"I have so much to tell you," she said, not taking her gaze away from the window. "I should have told you most of it weeks ago."


	5. Chapter 5: Retaliation

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I must apologize for my uncharacteristic lateness in updating. I've been busy planning a trip to New York I took this past weekend. It's lookin like this is gonna be the second to the last chapter. The feedback's been amazing!Thanks so much to everyone who's read and reviewed!

Chapter 5: Retaliation

Dimitri sat opposite Victoria in the empty waiting room, eyes widened in shock. She'd told him everything; her unexpected lineage, Pinhead, the cenobites, their intervention in Adrian's assault.

"Why didn't you say something sooner?" he asked.

"I don't know," she replied. "I guess I was selfish. I wanted all the glory to myself."

"Maybe it is better you didn't," he said. "I don't know. I still can't believe all this happened. This is such a mess." He shook his head. "Poor Adrian."

Poor Adrian indeed. The two of them hadn't been permitted to go back and see him. The doctors were initially very concerned about his condition. He was having great difficulty remaining conscious and they feared he could develop internal bleeding caused by numerous broken ribs puncturing the organs they were intended to protect. His mother had been when he had first arrived and she'd come back out in a complete rage, tears streaming down her face.

"You better believe I'm pressing charges!" she roared at her lawyer and the pair of police officers that had arrived. "And I'm suing that damn school for every penny they own! Where the fuck were they when those bastards were beating the living shit out of my son!"

Her husband and the officers escorted the hysterical woman out of the building. Adrian's doctors felt that she was disrupting the order within the hospital and that she needed some time to calm down. She could come back when she could keep herself under control.

"The demons saved Adrian's life," Dimitri said. "That strikes me as strange, rather atypical of demonic nature."

"They were human once," Victoria said. "Each of them has a unique personality. They can be exceptionally patient because they have all the time in the world. They're not imbecilic monsters; they're highly intelligent. They're not the demons they preached about in church. There is no devil within their world, only Leviathan, and it is merely a source of hedonistic power. No one will ever know the true nature of the cenobites. They're too complex."

"Perhaps you are right," Dimitri replied. "But from how you've described their world, they seem rather cruel and sadistic."

"You know nothing!" Victoria snapped. "They don't believe in morality or the lack of. They only believe in devotion and dedication to their craft. Yes, they are masters of torture, but they view it as an expansion of sensation, one in which the pain becomes so excruciating that a point of total sensory overload is reached and pain becomes indiscernible. It becomes pure sensation, transcending the boundaries of both pleasure and pain."

Dimitri stared hard at the young woman, a wild fury burning within her eyes.

"I suppose you'd know better than I would," he said. "You seem to be rather close with this Pinhead character."

She detected some snide negativity, perhaps even jealousy, in the way he said Pinhead's name.

"Think what you want," she said. "I don't wanna do this right now. I'm too worried about Adrian."

The two sat in an agitated silence for the next few hours, neither doing so much as looking at the other. Adrian's mother returned, significantly calmer than before and was taken back to see her son once again. Sometime later Victoria, who had dozed off in her chair, felt a gentle tap on her shoulder.

"Sweetheart, he's asking for you," Adrian's mother said.

She nodded groggily and got to her feet, following her friend's mother to his bedside. Adrian sat propped up in bed, an intravenous drip in one arm, the other in a cast. His face, though now cleansed of blood and dirt, was horribly swollen and discolored, stitches running across his forehead. A weak and slightly lopsided smile played across his lips.

"I'll give you two a minute," his mother said, exiting the room.

"I must look like Frankenstein," Adrian said, managing a small laugh.

Victoria smiled in response. "I've seen worse."

Adrian looked up at her knowingly. "What are they? What do they want?"

Victoria sat on the edge of his bed, gently patting his hand. She took a deep breath and proceeded to tell her story for the second time that day. Adrian remained attentive, never once interrupting her, his eyes (or more like eye being that one was swollen shut) widening in shock as she spoke.

"I should have told you as soon as it happened," she sighed. "I'm so sorry."

"You've got nothing to apologize for," he reassured. "I would've been killed if they hadn't stepped in."

Victoria nodded. "But they were seen by so many people. How do we explain that?"

"The authorities think it was some kind of group hallucination or that it was a story planned ahead of time as a way of turning the attention away from the assailants."

Dimitri stood in the doorway, leaning against the jamb. "If they'd lost control and injured someone, it would have worked."

"That wouldn't have happened!" Victoria scolded. "They're always completely in control!"

"How do know that for sure, Victoria?" Dimitri yelled back. "They're monsters! They could easily be putting on a façade for you as to avoid revealing their true nature."

"They saved Adrian's life! How can you make these accusations? You don't know them! You've never even seen them!"

"But I've heard the stories, read the myths about The Order of the Gash," he retaliated. "They seemed like fairy tales, fables meant to keep people's curiosity under control, but now there's concrete evidence of their existence. The stories now become fact. If the creatures exist, it only makes sense to believe the tales surrounding them."

"But do any of those stories speak of their laws or regulations? A demon must obey the one who summoned it at all cost, unless its master stands in Hell's way. My ancestor opened the door to their world and it's now my responsibility to maintain it, to keep the box from falling into the wrong hands like it did so many years ago!"

She glared at Dimitri, daring him to speak. He simply turned to Adrian.

"How are you feeling?"

"Like I've had my ass handed to me by at least a dozen guys, and not in a good way either." He smiled, trying to ease the tension in the room, but to no avail.

"I'm gonna head home," Victoria said. "My mom's probably frantic."

She kissed Adrian's forehead. "I love you, Ade."

"I love you, too," he replied.

"Let me drive you home,"Dimitri said.

"NO!" she spat. "I'll just catch a bus."

She left the room in a hurry, ignoring Dimitri's protests.

"She'll come around," Adrian reassured Dimitri. "She's stressed out."

~[ ]~

It had begun to storm as Victoria left the hospital, but she didn't care; she was too pissed at Dimitri. He had no right to speak of the cenobites that way. He had no reason to be so concerned. The bus stop was two blocks away. She hunched her shoulders and trudged through the downpour.

The streets were deserted. Not even a car was driving down the little side road she'd taken. As she passed an alley, an arm wound itself around her neck, its mate covering her mouth. She struggled as she was dragged down the alley. She was thrown to the ground and surrounded by several people.

"You think you're funny, you little bitch?" the boy who'd orchestrated Adrian's attack demanded. "You sent those fuckers after me!"

He kicked her hard in the ribs. She cried out in shock and agony.

"They're talkin about sending me away!" he roared. "Your faggot friend had it coming!"

He kicked her again.

"You're gonna pay for everything!" he cried. He removed a switchblade from his jeans pocket. Droplets of rain glistened off the blade as it sprang from the handle. Victoria's eyes widened in fear. Her hands immediately went to her bag, digging for the box. The boy dove at her with the knife, but she rolled out of the way, ducking beneath the legs of his friends and taking off down the alley, finally pulling the box from the depths of the bag. To her terror, she'd run up against a dead end. She turned to face her assailants, desperately trying to solve the box with her shaking hands.

"No you don't!" her attacker screamed. He drove the knife into her stomach. She gasped, the box falling from her fingertips and rolling away. She fell to her knees, blood pouring over her hands as she grasped the wound. With one hand still pressed to the cut, she crawled toward the half-solved box. Her vision was becoming blurry and her head was swimming. She heard footsteps and felt another burning pain at the base of her spine. She managed to solve the box just as she lost all feeling below her neck, the blade having injured her spinal cord. The box clattered from her useless hands. A furious bellow rang through the alley and she heard a young man scream. That was the last thing she heard before the world went black. The rain beat down on Victoria Isle, lying on the concrete and breathing her last breath.


	6. Chapter 6: In the Aftermath

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is it, folks; the final chapter of Hell Hath No Fury. All good things must come to an end. It's probably not gonna be too long, it just ties up some lose ends. Enjoy!

Chapter 6: In the Aftermath

Adrian sat at his desk, his laptop open in front of him, various biology notes scattered around it. He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. It was the end of November and he was studying for finals. He looked up at the picture on the shelf above his desk and smiled sadly.

They found that boy in the alley, shivering and mumbling to himself about demons. His friends lay dead around him, a bloody switchblade at his feet. They found Victoria Isle's bag at the end of the alley, but her body was nowhere to be seen. Her blood was on the knife and the boy was charged with her death and those of his friends. His lawyers pled insanity and no one argued. He was clearly no longer right in the head. He was shipped off to a mental institute. He never revealed the location of Victoria's body, and after several months the search was called off. Her family held onto the small hope that she was alive somewhere, but there had been too much of her blood in the alley. They had finally come to terms with their lose and began to mourn. Dimitri couldn't forgive himself for not going after her when she stormed out. She'd died mad at him. He quit his job at the high school because it reminded him too much of her. He went to teach near the college Adrian was attending. Each was the other's main support system. Brought closer together by the tragedy, the pair began dating. Adrian had always thought it was Victoria Dimitri had been after, but he'd been wrong.

Adrian had been the valedictorian at graduation. His wounds had mostly healed by then, but his bones were still on the mend. He'd cried as he mentioned Victoria and the fact that she wasn't there that day. He'd left for college with a heavy heart, knowing that Victoria should have been at his side. She should've been there to help him move in and vice versa. She should've been there now, pulling all-nighters cramming for their upcoming finals.

He removed the picture from its place and gently stroked the glass. It depicted the two of them laughing in the snow that previous winter.

"I miss you so much, Tor," he whispered, a tear falling onto the glass.

Not a day went by when he didn't wonder what had happened to her. The box hadn't been found in the alley. He had no way of contacting the cenobites and inquiring about Victoria's location. He wondered if they even knew, but it would've at least been a place to start.

"Oh, no tears. It's a waste of good suffering."

Adrian spun around. Pinhead sat on the edge of his bed, a smirk on his face.

"Pinhead, right?" Adrian asked.

"At your service," he replied.

"I'm not part of Victoria's bloodline," he said. "Why would you serve me?"

Much to his surprise, a genuine smile played across the creature's lips. It looked out of place on the mutilated face.

"She'd have it no other way."

Adrian smiled sadly. "I suppose you're right. What happened that night?"

"Those boys attacked her in the alley. They must have been lying in wait. How they knew she'd come that way, I do not know. They ambushed her and went after her with a switchblade. She was stabbed in the stomach and then the base of the spine as she tried to escape, the latter paralyzing her from the neck down."

Adrian began to sob as he talked. "How do you know all this?"

The demon smiled yet again. "She told me."

Adrian lowered his brow in confusion. "What?"

"See for yourself."

The opposite wall parted on an invisible seam and slid open. Beyond lay the Labyrinth, a world shrouded in mist. A figure moved toward them, obscured by the swirling substance. Adrian's heart stopped.

"Victoria?"

Her skin had the same unnatural pallor as Pinhead's. Her face had not been marred like his, but a pair of piercings studded each eyebrow. Several more decorated her lips and nose. Her earlobes had been stretched until they brushed her shoulders, large metal disks holding the massive holes open. From the front, she looked like a modern primitive, but when she turned around, the true cenobite mutilation was evident. Her robes were floor length and high collared like Pinhead's, but they were cut low in the back, from the base of her neck to just above her rear end. The flesh was peeled back along her spine, revealing the glistening white vertebrae. Metal bands were attached around the bone every few inches, holding the wound open. At first glance, Adrian thought she'd gained some weight, but on closer inspection, he realized that she was sporting the beginnings of a baby bump.

"You're alive," Adrian gasped.

"Sort of," she replied. It was odd to hear her voice again, especially coming from this new form. "Leviathan chose me. I was paralyzed and dying, but He saved me and made me a cenobite."

"And you're pregnant?" Adrian asked hesitantly.

She chuckled. "Yeah, I am. Just over four months." She smiled at Pinhead, who returned it. Intense adoration shone in those normally void black eyes.

Adrian began to laugh.

"You're really okay…well as okay as you'll get, but still."

He moved closer as to hug her, but hesitated.

"Don't worry, I won't bite," Victoria smiled. "Just watch out for the spine."

He threw his arms around her neck to avoid the massive wound down her back.

"Why didn't you come to me sooner?" he asked.

"I was recovering from the transition and then there was this to worry about," she indicated to her expanding abdomen. "It's an anomaly, that's for sure. Apparently cenobites are sterile."

"Apparently I was misinformed," Pinhead muttered under his breath.

Victoria patted his shoulder and smiled.

"Dimitri won't believe this," Adrian said.

"Dimitri," Victoria said. "Is he alright? I was really hard on him that night."

"He took it pretty badly at first. He felt it was his fault, that he should've gone after you and demanded you let him take you home. He quit his job, but he's teaching around here now." Adrian smiled. "And I was dead wrong about him. He didn't want you after all."

Victoria looked confused for a moment, and then it dawned on her.

"He wanted you."

Adrian smiled yet again. "Yes, he did. It's been three months."

Victoria laid a hand on his shoulder. "I'm glad you've found happiness in my absence"

"But no one could've filled the hole you left," he said.

"I'm not going anywhere now. I'll always have your back. All you have to do is call."

She held out the Lament Configuration. Adrian reached out and took it.

"You know how to use it?" Victoria asked.

"Yeah, I'll never forget that day in the art room. You left that pin, didn't you?" He looked at Pinhead.

"Indeed. Who else would have?"

"We're gonna leave now, Ade," Victoria said. "If you need me, you know how to reach me."

She leaned down and kissed him on the forehead. "I love you."

"I love you, too," Adrian whispered.

Pinhead reached over and took her hand. The pair turned and entered the labyrinth through the rift in the bedroom wall. Just before the wall slid shut, Victoria turned and smiled at him. Adrian returned it with one of his own. The wall shut with an almost inaudible snap.

Adrian looked down at the box. He gently ran his fingers over its intricate surface. His cellphone rang, snapping him out of his thoughts. He picked it up.

"Hey, babe," he said. "You won't believe who just paid me a visit."

**~[END]~**

ENDNOTE: And so marks the end of my first fan fic! Thanks so much to everyone who read and reviewed. I truly appreciate it. So, some interesting surprises at the end there. Victoria has become a cenobite, thus regaining free range of movement. I was a little unsure what to do with her appearance, but I've always been a supporter of the whole modern primitive thing so I decided to go down that route. Besides, what are the cenobites' wounds, but extreme body modification? Victoria and Pinhead did hook up (not that surprising) and are expecting (maybe more surprising)! The idea to have Adrian and Dimitri become a couple was a last minute thing, so it was a surprise even to me. A sequel is definitely in the works, but when it will begin is yet to be determined. Keep on the lookout for it! Again, thank you for sticking with me. ~Ofo~


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